Age differences in cardiovascular and cognitive performance under noise conditions

Ambient white noise (80 dB), compared with quiet (52-dB) testing conditions, improved the performance of elderly and younger subjects on simple addition. Reliable age-related interactions were found on health measures of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as heart rate. Heightened sensory conditions reduced the physiological measures of arousal in the younger group, whereas significant cardiovascular reactivity was found among the older group. The results are suggestive of the potential for increased cardiovascular risk as a function of sensory stimulation in the elderly despite improvements on cognitive tasks. Additional research is needed to evaluate the multidimensional effects of extended sensory stimulation on the elderly.     

Behavioral sequelae of long-term self-attributed success and failure: an attribution theory analysis

Starting from earlier results that self-caused long-term failure improved performance, this experiment tested the effect of "working conditions" as well as successes and failures succeeding the experience of long-term success and long-term failure. 64 subjects participated in recognition tests, composed of 9 tasks (with 42 stimuli each), to be solved within five different experimental sessions. Subjects received false feedback concerning each judgement. The feedback was designed to correspond to Kelley's informational requirements for self-attributions. Results clearly show an impairment of performances within new "working conditions" if successes succeed long-term failure or long-term success. Failure succeeding long-term failure in new "working conditions", on the other hand, improves performance. Different attribution theories' capacity to explain these results is discussed.     

Objective and simulated stimulation: an empirical study of the effect of indirect suggestion on motor behavior

In an experimental investigation it is demonstrated that motor behavior-in contrast to the opinion forwarded in the literature-is not only elicitable by means of direct persuasion, but also to a great extend by mere indirect suggestion, (feigning of stimuli). A differential investigation of these effects provided evidence that reactions to feigned stimuli are highly person specific and relatively homogenous concerning the respective instruments whereas objective stimuli lead to reactions relatively specific for the respective instrument applied. The findings are interpreted as an analog on to placebo-effects in the area of motor behavior. Their extend may be seen as an argument for a stronger concern with subjective reaction tendencies in this field.     

Acquisition of strategies depending on the opponents' competence level

The development of problem-solving skills from novices to advanced subjects in dependence of the competence level of the opponent is examined in a two-person zero-sum game (Othello). In a repeated-measurement design 18 Ss. (6 Ss in 3 groups) played 10 games against one of three opponent-strategies (implemented on a computer): one "expertlike" strategy, which uses domain specific knowledge and local heuristics (minimax-algorithm with alpha-beta pruning); one "novicelike" strategy, in which global, domain independent problem solving strategies (means-ends analysis, goal-reduction) are implemented; and one strategy, which contradicts the supposed heuristics of the novices, but which results in a "weak" performance (minimization in move-selection). Contrary to our assumptions no significant effects of experience could be verified (win versus loss during single runs). An experience dependent differentiation of global problem solving strategies could not be shown for any of the groups. Neither could a general improving effect of the model for acquiring local, task specific heuristics be proved.     

A model of the influence of processing effort and number of changes on subjective time perception

The paper is concerned with a model for subjective time estimation as determined by processing effort and number of changes. In a previous paper, a proposal was made that should solve a problem of confounded variables in the area of time estimation. An experimental design was developed to allow for the independent manipulation of processing effort and number of changes. It is shown that this proposal is valid only under the assumption that Stevens' law holds with exponent one. Therefore, another way of conceptualizing this problem is advanced in which one asks for the relative impact of processing effort and change on the parameters of Stevens' law. It can be demonstrated that this law yields considerable fit despite interindividual differences.     

Social psychology and the wrong revolution

Many social psychologists take increasing comfort in cognitive explanations of human action. This paper first attempts to demonstrate that cognitively based formulations not only delimit the possibilities for social understanding, but create a range of intractable conceptual problems. If real world events are reduced to cognitive representations of the world, then social events cease to exist for the discipline as legitimate foci of concern. Further, once the reality of cognition is granted, there is no conceptual means of viably explaining either the origins or acquisition of cognitive categories (schemas, representations, etc.), or the relationship between cognition and action. The paper then goes on to argue that the cognitive revolution in psychology blinds the discipline to the far more pervasive revolution occurring elsewhere in the intellectual world, that of social epistemology. When cognition is replaced by language as the major means for representing the world, then the individual is replaced by the social relationship as the central focus of concern. Theory and research within the framework of social epistemology are reviewed and their implications discussed.     

Activity status in psychophysiologic studies. "Changes in the general activity level in psychophysiologic studies--an analysis of objective and subjective parameters"

The general activation level (GAL) is one of the sources of influence in psychophysiological experiments. That means most of the results are dependent on the GAL. Taken this into account one can furthermore elucidate a part of the high variability of the interesting physiological data. We analysed heart rate (HR), auditory evoked potentials (AEP) elicited by background stimuli and the subjective assessment of the internal state of the subjects to describe changes of the GAL. Summarizing the results we can show different influences of the GAL on the physiological data. Changes of HR and AEP-parameters are caused by specific experimental conditions. The distinct influence of the subjective state of the subjects on the AEP-shapes allows the conclusion that subjective data should be more taken into consideration. The comprehensive characterization of the GAL requires data of different integrative levels.     

Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity and methylphenidate: The effects of dose and mastery level on children's learning performance

This investigation examined the relationship between methylphenidate (MPH) and the learning and recall of paired associations by children with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH). Forty-five children with ADDH were randomly assigned to one of three groups (novel, partial mastery, and mastery learning) that varied in the amount of previous learning of paired associations and participated in a double-blind, placebo-control, repeated-measures-across-dose (crossover) design. Each child received four doses of MPH (5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg, and 20 mg) and a placebo in a random, counterbalanced sequence. The results indicated that both the rate of acquisition and accuracy in learning paired associations were significantly, but differentially, affected by MPH dose and the degree of learning mastery. The implications of these results for psychopharmacological research and the monitoring of psychostimulant effects on children's learning performance in academic settings are discussed.The authors wish to acknowledge and express their sincere appreciation to the graduate and undergraduate student members of the Children's Learning Clinic.